Second chance at life comes at a cost

That's how French solo sailor Alain Delord has described his dramatic rescue from the Southern Ocean.

The yachtsman has arrived in Hobart after being plucked from the sea by the crew of a cruise ship.

Mr Delord spent three days in a life raft after the mast of his yacht snapped but the rescue could cost Australian taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Martin Cuddihy reports.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: To call the Southern Ocean risky is an understatement. It has a reputation among yachtsmen as an unforgiving and deadly passage.

Alain Delord knows this better than most.

TRANSLATOR FOR ALAIN DELORD: It's a miracle that, you know, in amongst the, the ocean that the Orion was able to find him. He says it's a miracle.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Alain Delord was trying to sail solo around the world. In rough weather, the mast on his 11 metre yacht broke on Friday.

He spent three days adrift before being rescued about 500 nautical miles south-west of Tasmania.

TRANSLATOR FOR ALAIN DELORD: It was quite hard, you have to keep yourself occupied and the raft can turn over at any time, so you have to compensate by, you know, leaning in different directions to keep it upright. And then also bailing the water out of the life raft as well.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Planes dropped flares at the life raft and the nearby cruise ship Orion became a rescue ship.

Its captain is Mike Taylor.

MIKE TAYLOR: The raft itself, it was just bobbing up to the surface and then disappearing behind the swell and then bobbing up again. It really looked tiny.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: With the ship alongside the life raft an inflatable dinghy was launched to collect the weary sailor.

MIKE TAYLOR: He leaned his body out across the bow of the raft, caught Alain by the hand and physically dragged him over the cushion and into the Zodiac.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: Despite the dramatic rescue, Alain Delord says he didn't think it was the end.

TRANSLATOR FOR ALAIN DELORD: He said it's contradictory but you always hope for the best and so you don't let, you don't think those things.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: After three days in the ocean, remarkably the solo sailor has only minor bruising, swollen hands and sore joints.

After three days in the ocean, remarkably, the solo sailor has only minor bruising, swollen hands and sore joints.

Passengers and crew cheered when he was pulled to safety, but not everyone is pleased the Orion made a detour.

For those on board, their $20,000 journey has been interrupted.

PASSENGER 1: Bit of disappointment we didn't get to Macquarie Island.

PASSENGER 2: Disappointed but it looks like the Orion will take us back down on the next voyage so they're doing all they can to get us there.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: But the disappointment is tempered by the knowledge a life has been saved.

PASSENGER 3: That was pretty excitement. I mean you couldn't but go and rescue the person. I mean they were just one person out in the middle of the ocean. There was elation when everyone on board burst into applause when he was rescued.

PASSENGER 4: A big relief to be able to come and save someone stuck in the middle of nowhere. Elation, it's like saving someone out of a fire, et cetera, you know.

It doesn't happen every day.

MARTIN CUDDIHY: A spokesman for Orion Expeditions says the last thing the company wants is disgruntled guests.

He says there's no blanket rules for rescue situations like this one, so company representatives are meeting with every guest onboard to discuss whether they should be compensated and how.

Along with the Orion, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority had at various stages of the rescue mission five planes in the air. Two of those were chartered commercial jets - a Bombardier global express and a Gulfstream 5-50.

AMSA says it won't know for weeks, if not months, how much the rescue operation has cost but the charter company has told PM those jets each cost about $10,000 per flight hour.

And as for Alain Delord, once safely onboard he celebrated his rescue with a red wine and steak.